He is aware of images circulating of protesters potentially being treated with a heavy hand by officers but says he is confident they operated appropriately to stop people from running onto on-ramps and putting themselves and others at risk.

"There have been thousands of people in the city, many of those people were there to voice their thoughts on TPP," he said.

"The vast majority of those people have been law abiding and we've worked with them to allow them to voice their thoughts. I'm very disappointed there were a group among them who chose to disrupt traffic."

He says officers were abused, had their clothing and hats pulled, but displayed "outstanding professionalism".